The Relationship between Dewey's Moral Contextualism and Kant's Deontological Ethics in Abortion

Abortion is related to local ethics and is one of the situations in which all conditions and cases should be taken into account. In this article, by examining John Dewey's opinions about Kant's contextualism and deontology, the issue of conflicts and moral duties in abortion was investigated.

The research method is the logical analysis of the opinions of these two thinkers.

It seems that based on Kant's duty approach, it is not possible to provide a general rule for abortion, and this depends entirely on whether we accept the fetus as a person whose criterion is reasoning, feeling and receiving experience or not. But according to the analysis that Dewey's contextualism claims, if a general rule can be used to make the right decision for a person that results in the most virtue and action, then the general rule is also one of the conditions and environment that the person has in the issue (abortion) deals with it and makes a moral decision based on them. From Dewey's point of view, if our non-abortion is a valid reason that can be followed and we are born, we should not end any pregnancy. That is, if the fetus produces the truth that can be followed by surviving, then abortion is immoral. Therefore, in general, the duties towards the mother and the fetus are different in terms and contexts, but the duties that man has towards himself and the principle of humanity give him general principles for action